Nixon criticizes Cuomo over mailer; governor focuses on Trump

ALBANY — Cynthia Nixon on Monday said Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo should be “held accountable” for a controversial mailing, paid for by the Democratic Party, that tried to link her to anti-Semitism.

The governor didn't address the issue further Monday or mention his opponent in the upcoming Democratic primary. Instead, Cuomo campaigned upstate as if he was facing Republican President Donald Trump.

And in the Democratic race for the attorney general nomination, Zephyr Teachout told reporters Monday she was the only one of the four candidates who would investigate the governor for potentially using state resources for campaign purposes.

It was all part of the rush for candidates to drive home their core messages with just three days to go before Thursday’s vote.

Cuomo, the two-term incumbent, traveled to Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, where he touted upstate development projects but primarily framed Thursday’s vote as choice for him over Trump, especially on issues of income taxes, abortion rights and immigration.

“On Thursday, September 13th, we have to make it an unlucky day for Donald Trump,” Cuomo said in Rochester. “I need you to come out. I need you to vote for me. I want to send a message to this president . . . We are going to stop this Trump freight train in New York and it starts Thursday.”

He didn’t field questions from the media at Syracuse or Rochester.

Nor did Cuomo say anything further about a mailer distributed by the state Democratic Party Committee (which he effectively controls) that called Nixon “silent on anti-Semitism” and incorrectly stated she supported a boycott Israel movement. Some Democrats called it a last-minute “dirty” trick and “shameful.”

The governor, a day earlier, called the mailer a “mistake” and “inappropriate.” But neither he nor party executive director Geoff Berman provided details on who approved the literature.

Byron Brown, the state party chairman and mayor of Buffalo, told a Buffalo news station Monday: “I had no knowledge of it.”

Nixon, who is raising her children Jewish, told reporters Cuomo needed to answer for it.

“I really have to think we can’t just blame the state Democratic Committee for this. This goes back to Andrew Cuomo and he needs to be held accountable,” Nixon said while campaigning at Grand Central Terminal and criticizing the governor for the condition of the subways.

At the state Capitol in Albany, Teachout said she would investigate Cuomo’s frequent use of state aircraft during his campaign, Cuomo’s former top aide for potentially using his state office while working on the governor’s 2014 campaign, and last week’s opening of the replacement Tappan Zee bridge renamed for Cuomo’s father.

“This is when my independence of Andrew Cuomo really matters for voters,” said Teachout, who is running for the party’s attorney general nomination against U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-Phillipstown), New York Public Advocate Tish James and former Cuomo aide Leecia Eve.

The new bridge had to be closed Saturday, hours after an elaborate grand opening ceremony, because of safety concerns but it will reopen soon. Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro questioned whether the opening was rushed to beat Thursday’s primary.

With Michael Gormley and Vin Barone.